The Denver Nuggets are just one win away from sweeping their streak against the Los Angeles Lakers.
They won 119-108 in Game 3 and will be able to secure their ticket to the NBA Finals on Monday.
It was the Lakers’ first home loss in this playoff.
If the formation led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis is already facing elimination, it is largely thanks to the work of Jamal Murray in this meeting.
The Canadian playmaker had transported his team during the 4e quarter of Game 2 to give the Nuggets the win and continued on Saturday. He scored 17 points in the first quarter alone and had 30 points on his record after 24 minutes of play.
The Lakers were still in the game and James certainly breathed a big sigh of relief after making his first downtown field goal of the series in the third quarter. The Lakers even took a temporary lead in the game, but the leaders in the West stepped on the gas in the fourth quarter.
An unanswerable 13-point push from the Nuggets gave them a 10-point lead. With less than four minutes to go, James approached the Lakers to seven points with a three-pointer to put the board 108-101 in Denver’s favor.
Nikola Jokic replied on the next climb with a basket from downtown and that three-pointer seemed to take away all hope for the Lakers players who did not come back up the slope afterwards.
Murray finished the night with 37 points while teammate Jokic had 24 points and eight assists.
For the Lakers, James recorded a brace with 23 points and 12 assists. Davis, for his part, made his presence felt under the basket with 28 points and 18 rebounds.
It’s looking like a near impossible task for the Lakers to win this series, as no team in NBA history has come back from a 3-0 deficit in 149 chances.
2023-05-21 03:00:00
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